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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A quarter of a century ago, countless lives were changed forever.
Today, Oklahoma City remembers the tragedy a little differently– virtually.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum produced a Remembrance Ceremony video.
Across from the federal building where the bombing happened 25 years ago, parts of St. Joseph Old Cathedral were also shattered.
“This church was badly damaged in the bombing. [The windows] were blown out and they had to be reconstructed. They had to find photographs to try to reproduce them as well as they could,” Archbishop Paul Coakley said.
Coakley held a live streamed Mass of Remembrance two days before the anniversary to honor the victims and the survivors.

“I’m grateful for the technology that enables us to live stream the liturgy and the mass all over the world, but there’s a great longing for the people to come together,” Coakley said.

As we face a different challenge of a pandemic 25 years later, lessons from that fateful day stick with us: a reminder that we will always have the Oklahoma Standard.

“COVID-19, 9/11, the bombing, these are all similarly shared experiences along this journey we call life. In the wake of such events, what matters is that we take lessons from them and emerge wiser and more prepared to face similar challenges ahead,” Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said in the remembrance video.

“The city has moved on from the bombing stronger, and we’re now enduring this pandemic, and I think gives us confidence that we will move beyond this,” Coakley said.

Even though Sunday’s ceremony was held virtually, as is tradition, the names of the 168 victims were read aloud to honor them.